The present invention is related to network communications and, in particular, to a system and method for controlling multimedia information in audio/video/data system using, for example, a personal computer having Graphical User Interface for user control of multimedia components.
Control of multimedia information in audio/video/data systems may be one of the greatest challenges in today""s highly integrated systems comprising many multimedia components. The existence of 200 Compact Disk (CD) changer, for example, creates difficulties in determining how to access the required information on the disk in a simple and user-friendly manner. Hence, users must have means for accessing the multimedia components and information on the recording medium with minimum of effort on their part.
Further, when multimedia components, such as the CD changer, the Video Tape Recorder (VTR), etc. are connected into a single integrated system, interface specifications for each component are typically kept at some central controlling device. If a new component is added to the system, the controlling device must be updated with the interface specification for this new component. This inconvenient procedure is also prone to errors resulting in the inoperative component due to the high likelihood of entering incorrect information in the controlling device. This will prevent the newly added multimedia component from functioning in the system.
In addition, due to the numerous configurations of rooms, concert halls, auditoriums, etc. and many possible sound fields, it is nearly impossible for an audio/video receiver in the integrated system to store all of the sound fields, corresponding to the physical configuration of each enclosed space, in memory. Currently, audio/video receivers have only a small selection of sound fields, because of limited storage capacity and processing power in the audio/video receivers.
A need therefore exists for a system and method for overcoming the above disadvantages.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for controlling multimedia information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an interface between user-controlled programmable controller and audio/video/data system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an interface specification, pertaining to a multimedia component, that is transferrable to a programmable controller.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a plurality of sound fields according to the music type.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished by a method and system for controlling multimedia components for manipulating multimedia information in a data storage medium, where each multimedia component has a plurality of control switches. In accordance with the present invention, instructions representing control operations to be carried out on a multimedia component are entered. The instructions are then converted to at least one command for controlling the multimedia component. The multimedia information is manipulated in the data storage medium based on the command corresponding to the control operations carried out on the multimedia component.